Stayed up late, waiting for Bill to come home. Went to bed at 2:22, still no Bill. I guess he came home an hour later since I wasn’t sleeping all too well and when I went to visit the loo, there he was getting ready for bed.

I slept better once he got home. Before I went to sleep I heard reports about the earthquake in Chile. It was reported as an 8.3 earthquake but when I woke up this morning it was 8.8 which is really big.

The closest I ever got to or felt an earthquake is about a year or so ago and it was a quake in Morristown NJ I believe. I was sitting where I am now, in front of the computer, my right elbow on the table when I felt a vibration that lasted a few seconds.

Enough for me to notice, but not enough to remember until it was announced on the 11:00 News. One can’t help but wonder, especially on the east coast, more specifically in this metropolitan zone how much destruction would be cause if the epicenter was in this area.

I try not to think about it but when it’s the main story on cable news, you can’t help but think about it. I watched most of the day, waiting for the tsunami to hit Hawaii. MSNBC seemed to have a loop of surfers in the water for some reason.

They would report that the waters have been cleared of people, then these two dudes on long boards would be shown.

It’s been reported that Hawaii dodged a bullet, the waves weren’t as destructive as anticipated. Of course, Guam, Japan and Russia as well as other Pacific coast countries are still in danger.

I spoke to my brother in law Rex in California, who told me people were headed out to the coast to see the tsunami which is stupid. The ocean will kill you and doesn’t care. Still the jabbering continues on the cable news.

I’ve been listening to Spoon lately. I heard of them and had a few tracks from Mojo/Uncut and the Dark Was the Night CD’s but never went any further than that. After reading about them in last month’s Uncut I decided to download a few tracks and I find that I love them.

Very close to the types of things I would be doing if I had a band. Really cool stuff, acoustic based. Looked them up on Ultimate Guitar and found that their songs are easy to play too. Not too many Norwegians.

I learned that via Nick Lowe on Spectacle with Elvis Costello. Norwegian Fjords = chords.

Like Hot Chip a couple of weeks ago, I would be listening to a song that I thought was merely alright would have me wanting more a few minutes later. Last night, Spoon’s song, The Underdog blew me away.

And manageable on the guitar, and that includes the tricky and fast chord changes in the middle eight.

On the other end of the spectrum, thanks to my friend Sheilah posting a video clip of Maria Callas the other day I went to the library and took out two Callas CD’s. Collections of her arias. Amazing stuff, quite powerful and beautiful. I do have a Kiri te Kanawa collection, but this is legendary stuff.

Then on Facebook there was a posting about Brian Wilson who was quoted as enthusing about Johann Sebastian Bach and when I was in the library this afternoon I saw a collection called Weekend Bach and took it out.

Jeez, look at me! I’m getting all cultural and shit.

I also downloaded Trans Europe Express by Kraftwerk. A remaster that came out late last year, and that of course is excellent.

And I downloaded Moses by Elizabeth Fraser (formerly from Cocteau Twins). Always good to hear Liz’ voice. All is recommended.

Here is what Hoboken looked like today.